


The Price of Loyalty

by Eustacia Vye (eustaciavye)



Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: Could be genfic, F/M, Gen, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-04
Updated: 2014-06-04
Packaged: 2018-02-03 10:05:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1740689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eustaciavye/pseuds/Eustacia%20Vye
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ariadne finally lets Cobb know what she thinks of his treatment of Arthur.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Price of Loyalty

Though she probably shouldn't have wanted to stay, Ariadne was drawn to dream share and chose to stick with it after the Fischer job. Arthur didn't seem surprised by that, just as it didn't seem to surprise him that Cobb wound up returning to dream share after only a month stateside. He couldn't stand the quiet anymore, as much as he loved his children, and relied on Arthur to choose the jobs that were challenging enough to keep his interest but safe enough that he wouldn't leave his children orphaned.

This particular job was fairly easy, especially if Ariadne used the Fischer job as her yardstick for comparison. It was a single level, nothing very complicated about the maze, though she added a few other paths and hiding places just in case. "It can't hurt," she had explained to Arthur. "Mal might be taken care of, but that doesn't mean the subject's demons can't come out to harm either of you." He had seemed touched by the thoughtfulness, though Cobb had been insulted.

"I can get what I need and be out of there without difficulty," he had huffed. "Just focus on the maze itself, Ariadne. I don't need anything else."

"Why do you have to make everything about you?" she asked, voice sharp. "You don't want to use a contingency plan, fine. But maybe it's not there for just you. Maybe it's there in case Arthur wants to use it. He's the one that has to hold down the dream. If anything happens to him, you're bounced out and have nothing to show for it."

Arthur blinked, and Ariadne supposed that he wasn't used to anyone coming to his defense like this. She had noticed the way Cobb seemed to take his support for granted, steamrollering over any objections to get what he wanted. Cobb had been only too quick to blame things on Arthur, and she recalled the tightly controlled anger and affronted surprise on Arthur's face during the Fischer job when Cobb blamed Arthur for their predicament. They've all done enough jobs together that Ariadne saw the pattern in that kind of behavior, and she didn't like it. Arthur was loyal to a fault, and would never complain about the way Cobb so casually hurt him with a thousand tiny cuts.

She grasped his arm before Cobb could say anything else. "We're going out. You can think about what you really want out of this job and tell me tomorrow."

Ariadne caught the subtle tilt to Arthur's lips, so she knew he wasn't insulted by the way she had commandeered his presence. He was probably used to such things from his long association with Cobb, even if it wasn't her usual style of dealing with him. Arthur always was so proper, and it made her feel as though she had to be on her best behavior to impress him. It was always a pleasant surprise when some of his quirky humor shone through.

He didn't say anything until she had parked them in her favorite cafe. "You didn't have to do that, you know," he told her in a matter-of-fact tone. "I can handle myself just fine."

"But you don't."

She managed not to wince at her own blunt tone, but Arthur seemed to take that in his stride. He already knew her well enough by now to realize she often spoke before she thought of the consequences, and that her impulsive side often demonstrated what she really thought and felt. There was no such thing as a carefully constructed persona for Ariadne. She would have been horrible as a forger, as she always threw her whole self into things headlong.

"It's not something that bothers me much," Arthur told her mildly. She tracked the movement of his fingers around his coffee cup, the way he held himself so still and aloof. "We have a long history, and I know he doesn't mean anything by it."

"It looks abusive to me," Ariadne continued, barrelling forward.

"Probably." Arthur looked up after taking a sip of his coffee. "I was friends with Mal first," he said slowly. "My best friend, especially in the military project that I had taken part in. She was part of the research team. We kept contact after the project fell apart."

Ariadne was tempted to dig further into that, but his spare words carried a hint of pain in them. That was enough to get her to pause. She liked Arthur, and she didn't want to cause more harm.

"I didn't know what happened to her at first. But when her behavior started changing, she asked me to watch out for Dom, to take care of him if he ever couldn't take care of himself."

"So you keep doing it."

"She was my best friend. I didn't see what happened to her until it was too late."

Impulsively, Ariadne grasped one his hands in both of hers. "You're a good man, Arthur. It's not your fault that she’s gone, and you've always done your best to do what she asked. I just hate seeing Cobb yell at you, like it's going to grind you down. You deserve better than that."

He fixed her with an intense look, then his lips slowly curled into a smile. "Really. You think that."

Oh. Well. Perhaps her heart was a bit on her sleeve. "Yeah, I do," she said, deciding to just dive right in and admit it. What was the worst that could happen?

Arthur leaned in a bit, that smile widening slightly. "I'll keep that in mind, then. Should we go out to dinner, then? You wanted Dom to talk to you tomorrow, after all."

Ariadne couldn't help but grin at him. "Yeah. That would be great."

Just to check later that evening, she tipped over her bishop in the restroom. Reality.

Perfect.

The End


End file.
